The Collector
Select a topic to reflect upon -- you might which to prepare some minimal research before you respond.
- Now that we know that the dominant literary allusion employed throughout the text is of Shakespeare’s The Tempest, with your group, conduct minimal research and answer the following:
- Make connections/parallels between the 2 texts
- How does this impact your study of The Collector?
- The Collector is thought to involve a study of the class system. Discuss what points Fowles is making about the class system through the characters of Miranda and Frederick and their relationship.
- Explore the concept of Art and Beauty:
- Provide what you believe to be Frederick’s definition and Miranda’s definition
- How is Art and Beauty expressed in the text? (process and product?)
4. Fowles is developing a complex, problematic scenario about the human condition regarding freedom. Both Frederick and Miranda seek freedom, not just literal.
- What other types of freedoms are there?
4) After doing research about the different types of freedom, I learned that there is National Freedom, Political Freedom, Individual Freedom, and Spiritual Freedom. National Freedom deals with a nation wanting their own rights to do what they please and not be controlled by any other nations. Political Freedom deals with freedom inside of a nation or country and the desire of citizens to be able to have a say in their government. Individual Freedom is the desire for singular people to have complete control over themselves and not having anyone else have a say in what they can do. Lastly, Spiritual Freedom is the desire to find a religion or find a certain thing/spirit to worship. In The Collector, Frederick seeks Individual Freedom. Frederick wants to hide away from the rest of society and not allow anyone, including his family, to tell him that his practices and what he is doing is wrong. He wants the freedom to be alone with Miranda and rejects any belief that he needs to do anything otherwise, even after Miranda tells him that he is in critical need of help. Miranda wants literal freedom from Frederick, she wants her Individual Freedom back due to the fact that she was imprisoned in a cellar, and she wants Spiritual Freedom to believe in a God that could possibly help her. In the end, her freedom is granted when she dies. However, Frederick continues to still take away the freedom of women even after Miranda is no longer in his life. Frederick believes that he is free from society but he is not free from his corrupt mind and actions.
ReplyDelete4. One underlying theme that is continually brought up in “The Collector” is freedom. The plot follows the kidnapping of a girl named Miranda. She literally has her freedom taken away from her. The kidnapper, Frederick Clegg, also experiences challenges with freedom. Clegg is first depicted as a social outcast who has recently won money in football pools. Clegg seems to be overpowered by his Aunt Annie. Aunt Annie raised Clegg and taught him what she thought a proper young men should act like. In some ways, it seems that Clegg wants to be free of Aunt Annie’s watch, but no matter what happens he always thinks of her. Clegg finds a sense of purpose in Miranda. Miranda makes him feel free from society, and she is all he can think about. In order for him to obtain his freedom, he has to take away hers. Unfortunately, Miranda is never able to gain her freedom back. After dying under Clegg’s watch, Miranda’s once vibrant freedom was gone forever. This is disheartening considering the fact that Miranda was a character that valued her freedom. She felt that her right to express herself and make her own choices was extremely important. This is clearly depicted when she questions Clegg about his money situation. She feels that he should invest his money in something that matters. She stresses the fact that his money gives him many more freedoms than other individuals. Miranda explains that if she were in his situation she would give her money to good causes and donate to things that she was passionate about. She tries to explain that he has the ability to better the world, but instead plagues it with his lack of input. His lack of emotion causes Miranda to question why he does not value the freedoms he has. Clegg is not entirely sure why he feels so repressed, but he puts forth his best effort to please Miranda. In some ways, he loses his freedom to Miranda, but this time it is more by choice. Overall, both characters struggle with gaining and losing their freedoms.
ReplyDeleteFreedom:
ReplyDeleteThe desire for several different types of freedom can be observed throughout the duration of “The Collector”. Miranda, obviously, longs for her freedom from captivity. After Frederick takes her as his “guest” she is locked up in a cramped room with no sunlight or windows. The longing to be reunited with the outside world was enough to drive Miranda crazy, as well as, create immense feelings of hate towards her oppressor. She was not ready to die and wanted her independence back. On the other hand, Frederick craved mental freedom. Frederick was restricted in so many aspects of his life. He did not have much social interaction and was extremely introverted. He avoided people at all costs, and seemed to only find solace when he had “captured” Miranda. Frederick’s mental capacity to understand the consequences of his actions was limited, and his lack of guilt for his actions shows his inhumanity. Frederick was not properly educated, but he was not dumb either. He knew what he was doing, but he lacked the ability to sympathize for Miranda. In a way, Frederick temporarily found his freedom through power. He knew that Miranda depended on him, and he enjoyed that feeling of dependence. After Miranda dies, however, Frederick becomes trapped in his own mind again. He does not see the errors of his ways, but yet thinks of planning another abduction. Miranda never achieves the freedom that she so badly craves because of Frederick’s actions. Frederick, also, never gains mental freedom because he is trapped in his old ways.
Question 3: In The Collector there are two interpretations of art and the creation of beauty. The first comes from Frederick, or Ferdinand Clegg and the other from Miranda. The two disagree sharply on this subject and their concepts of art are indicative of the lifestyles they live. Frederick’s idea of beauty is one of total uniformity, straight lines, right angles, etc… He is meticulous, calculating and methodical in every aspect of his boring life. This is why before he began kidnapping young women, his hobby was to collect butterflies and put them in display in little glass containers, all neatly lined up for his observation. In contrast, Miranda’s concept of art is more free-spirited. The art she enjoys is a product of expression, impulse and intense emotion. If the process of creating a work of art does not include passion, then it is of little value to her. Frederick failed to comprehend this and it is precisely why his absurd little plan would not and could not ever work out in the end. Miranda often referred to the type of art which she loathed as “dead.” Well, in the end she became a product of Frederick’s “dead” art, except in a most literal sense. All of his scientific and calculated toils resulted in the same product as he created with the butterflies. A lifeless specimen for his microscope was what he sought to make of Miranda, and the product of his uncompromisingly scientific treatment was precisely that. Miranda not only loathed him for his actions, but for his methods. After all, Clegg was trying to create what he would have considered a form of art. Miranda however, was influenced by people like G.P., her older, artist friend with whom she later thought she might enter a relationship. She admired him for his strong convictions and his idealized vision of art which, much like hers, necessitated impulsive, raw emotion. He also detested people he considered “anti-art, anti-life, anti-everything--” people like Clegg.
ReplyDelete2. The class system is referred to many times throughout The Collector. Frederick Clegg, the kidnapper, does not come from a high class. He eventually comes into money after winning a pool, but even he realizes that since he was not born into a high class, that he will never be apart of a different class. He was born into the lower class and that is where he will remain, even though he is now considered rich. Miranda, on the other hand, comes from the upper-middle class. She did not necessarily have a lot of money, but she had an education, something that Frederick did not have. The concept of them being from different social classes plays an important role in the dynamic role of their relationship. While being held captive, Miranda learns that Frederick was not born into the upper class and takes advantage of that. She realizes that he was not educated and she was. Although Frederick was the kidnapper, it was as though Miranda had all of the control. She was educated and could study his weaknesses. She exploited the fact that she was considered to be from a higher class. Through this, the author, John Fowles, is trying to say that people who come from a higher class think that they are better and capable of controlling the lower classes. I think that it was a very strategic move of Fowles to make Miranda of a higher social class. This criticizes the class system and shows how the upper class thinks that they are of more importance than the lower class.
ReplyDelete4. In the novel The Collector, author John Fowles creates the theme of freedom that both Frederick Clegg and Miranda Gray can relate to in completely different ways. Frederick has a very unusual longing for freedom in the story. He plays into the idea that he has Miranda in his basement as a prisoner. He has no intentions to kill Miranda, but he also wants to destroy any part of her that does not want him. Frederick makes it clear to Miranda that she is being held captive there, and he had no intentions to free her in reality, even if he led her on that he would. Frederick needs freedom from his very psychopathic mind. He wants to free himself from the prison in his mind, that constantly causes him to make rash and extreme decisions. If Frederick was able to free himself from his mind, he might be able to live a normal life and not imprison others because he doesn't want to face reality. Miranda manages to help Frederick. She says that she will get him help as soon as possible if he let her go. Although Miranda’s sole purpose of saying that was to escape, if Frederick was exposed by police,therapists, and other real people in society, he might have been able to get the serious help that he needs. Miranda, on the other hand, has an obvious type of freedom that she was trying to gain control of. She was locked in Frederick’s basement as his prisoner, and had absolutely no way of escaping, considering Frederick had every aspect of her “room” perfectly set up, with no kind of items that she could use as weapons. Miranda is also fighting for another kind of freedom. Miranda is also imprisoned in her own head, and has to write to try to maintain sanity. Miranda explained how she sometimes had to make noise to show that she was still alive, and able to talk. She also would stare at her reflection in the mirror that Frederick had set up until she didn't recognize the reflection, and had to blink to get back into reality. Writing was help for Miranda, but because of her language and topics she discussed, she wasn't the most loved character by every reader. Getting inside each of the characters’ heads provoked different emotions in the reader, such as sympathy or anger. Overall, Miranda and Frederick had their own freedoms they were trying to gain.
ReplyDelete2. In the Collector there is a definite class system, and members of each class have opposing views of each other. Miranda, although not extremely wealthy, is of the higher class, and Frederick is of the lower class even though he has a large sum of money. Frederick often mentions how he dislikes the “la di da” attitude of the rich people. He thinks they are fake and don’t have any cares. He feels above them because he sees the world differently. Miranda, although she has been captured by Frederick and he has control over her, sees herself as above him. Miranda always comments on his English and his taste in art and expresses how she knows she is better than him. Fowles is pointing out how rigid the class system is. Despite the obvious wealth of Frederick people still look upon him as less than. Because he was born into his class, there is no way he can escape it. Miranda will always be viewed and view herself as an entitled woman who is educated and elite. Fowles also points out how the classes will always judge and hate each other no matter who the person within their respective class really is. Miranda was subjugated despite her status, and Frederick, despite his, showed his power when he kidnapped Miranda, however they will always see themselves and each other as their class.
ReplyDelete1. There are many parallels between The Collector and The Tempest. In The Tempest, originally written by Shakespeare, there are characters named Miranda, Ferdinand, and Caliban, just like in The Collector. Within this play Miranda and Ferdinand fall in love and eventually get married. This plot corresponds with what Clegg originally expects from kidnapping Miranda. He believed that he could force Miranda to fall in love with him if he took her and kept her locked up. He thought that if Miranda only had him to talk to and interact with, she would eventually fall in love with him and understand who he is. Clegg did not want Miranda’s sympathies, he wanted her to realize that they were perfect together and should live happily ever after. Nothing occurred the way he originally thought it would. Another parallel between the two texts lies within the character of Caliban. In The Tempest, Caliban was this wretched, ugly monster that nobody loved. He was a villainous person who could not have anyone’s sympathies or care. This is the same way that Miranda views Clegg in The Collector. She loathes him for stealing her from her life and despises everything about him. She often describes him as a monster incapable of being a real human being. Therefore, Miranda only sees the Caliban side to Clegg while he hopes that he will become the Ferdinand to Miranda.
ReplyDeleteThis new knowledge of the parallels between The Tempest and The Collector help me understand both Clegg’s and Miranda’s point of view and personality. Clegg believes that through the kidnapping of Miranda, she will learn to love him. In comparison with Ferdinand in The Tempest, Clegg loves Miranda and wishes for them to be together forever. I understand now that Clegg chose the name “Ferdinand” in correspondence with this text because he wanted the same relationship Ferdinand had with Miranda. He had this whole expected story planned out that they would live happily ever after. In Miranda’s eyes, Clegg was the Caliban of her story. She could only view him as a kidnapping and hideous villain. Because of their perspectives and expectancies for each other, they could not have a lasting relationship that would end positively.
One type of freedom that Miranda seeks is artistic freedom. She wants to not only express her opinions, but have others understand and comprehend what she is trying to say. Miranda is trapped with Frederick, who dutifully looks and listens to Miranda’s art and music but does so without understanding the deeper meaning. Even though she has access to many pieces of art and music, it is meaningless to her because no one is there to appreciate it with her. Miranda also seeks political freedom, as she continously tries to get Frederick to be against the H-bomb. She tries to get him to donate to a volunteer group, but he does not understand why he should. One kind of freedom that Frederick’s wants is the freedom to control. He equals money with power, and when he wins the lottery, he tries to get control over everything. Since he was controlled by the army and the higher social classes, he tries to return the favor.
ReplyDeleteThroughout ‘The Collector’ Fowles alludes to Shakespeare’s ‘The Tempest’, drawing several parallels to further reveal the characters’ personalities. Despite Clegg desperately wanting to play the role of Ferdinand, Miranda’s true love, Miranda disagrees and labels Clegg as Caliban because she believes him to be her inferior, just as Prospero and Miranda did in ‘The Tempest’. She assumes superiority because of the class difference, but mainly because of his ignorance, of art and normal life in general. She also sees him as Caliban because he is a monster in her eyes, wanting to possess her, just as Caliban wanted to take advantage of Miranda in ‘The Tempest’. Just like Caliban, Clegg does not fit in with normal society and is an outcast that no one can sympathise with. I find these parallels interesting because in ‘The Tempest’ Caliban was Miranda and Prospero’s slave, but in ‘The Collector’ Clegg is supposedly in charge. However, this parallel is not as untruthful as it initially seems. One grows to see that despite Clegg being the kidnapper, Miranda controls his moves, from buying her luxury wish list to taking her insults sheepishly with no rebukes. Fowle’s allusion to ‘The Tempest’ allows the reader to understand Miranda and Clegg’s relationship more deeply.
ReplyDelete. Frederick and Miranda both came from different backgrounds which made it difficult for them to connect or see eye to eye. Although Frederick was a millionaire from his winnings, he was raised in a lower class family, which money couldn’t hide. According to Miranda, his appearance and taste lacked elegance and quality. He was tall, lanky, awkward, and badly dressed. While Miranda was sophisticated, mature, and beautiful. The two both looked down on each other’s social status, unable to find a middle ground. Frederick was generally looked down on because of his low class origins and thus spoke about the higher class in a disparaging manner. At the end of the novel, he even says how he never wants to subjugate such a high class girl again. On the other hand, Miranda came from a privileged white upper class, her father was a doctor while her mother was a drunk housewife. She had refined and expensive taste, always asking for various foods, books, and art. The two continuously clash because of their different tastes and preferences. Miranda expressed disappointment in Frederick when he picked the art piece that she found to be the worst. The class system is portrayed through their toxic relationship as simply incompatible. Fowler is criticizing the fact that the two social class are unable to relate to one another because they let their social status get in the way.
ReplyDeleteQuestion#2
ReplyDeleteThrough Miranda and Clegg, the author, Fowles, draws different points on the prevalent class system and class attitudes in England during the setting of the novel or during his time period. In several instances during the course of the novel, Fowles draws a distinction between Miranda and Clegg in terms of class. Fowles portrays Miranda as a member of the affluent, educated, and intellectual upper class who is rather condescending of those considered uneducated, and perhaps low born. On the other hand, Clegg is portrayed as a member of the lower class, who although recently made wealthy, is still considered to be of base origin. As a result of their different classes, Miranda and Clegg clash on different opinions and interactions towards each other. Miranda, naturally, views Clegg as base and uneducated, often pointing out that he is not intelligent, and simple minded. In several occasions, Miranda ridicules Clegg for not understanding or interpreting literature and art in the same way she does. Their difference in education and intellect is their most striking and distinguishing feature which divides both characters entirely. Clegg, however, is sensitive to Miranda’s condescendant comments, and because of his background, low class accent, and given (not earned) money, feels inferior to someone like Miranda. Therefore, the distinction between Clegg and Miranda, is Fowles’s way of illustrating the social class system, conditions, and prevalent attitudes of his time. In my opinion, Fowles attacked the attitude of upper class elites towards lower class peoples with recently obtained wealth. In brevity, Fowles illustrates the clash between “old” and “new” money, or the upper and an emerging wealthy lower class.
Question #.
ReplyDeleteFrederick’s definition of art and beauty are much the same because he believes in the superficial kind of beauty that most art possesses. I believe Frederick would define the concept of art as making something “pretty” or appealing to the eye in any way. He would define it as closest to real life portrayals as they can be. As for beauty, his definition would be similar because he believes beauty to be only what he can see on the surface. He does not appreciate any of Miranda’s intellect or knowledge about the arts. Instead, he would rather tell her how beautiful she appears, despite her actual beauty as a person.
Miranda’s definition of art and beauty are extremely different than Frederick’s. Miranda is a gifted art student and claims to know art in its true form. She knows what it is supposed to look like and how it is supposed to make people feel. She believes art has an effect on people that people like Frederick will just never see. She would define art in a very abstract way that I cannot even recreate. She would want this definition to encompass the physical, mental, and emotional appeal that great art has. Beauty, for Miranda, is also very similar to art because she knows there are levels to it. She understands complex human emotion, and even falls victim to it. She becomes trapped with thinking about Frederick and the way he feels, rather than what he really is. Miranda does not find him beautiful but she understands that everyone has beauty, but not everyone can see it.
In the text, the process of art and beauty is best described by Miranda. Miranda expresses the process as something painstaking yet rewarding. She knows there is work to be put in to achieve the desired result but her goal is to reach a satisfying product at all costs. She also expresses the product very well because of how she responds to something she likes or does not like. When she draws or paints something she deems unsatisfactory, she rips it up and ceases to think about it. Miranda is much too proud to ever let herself create something not up to her standards. Maybe this is because she has let G.P. influence her a little too much, but nevertheless, she has a view on art and beauty that is actually expressed in the text. Frederick just agrees with her regardless if he knows what she is talking about or not. He cannot express anything, beside a love for Miranda that can never be because it is based out of a forced relationship with a stranger.
Question #.
ReplyDeleteFrederick’s definition of art and beauty are much the same because he believes in the superficial kind of beauty that most art possesses. I believe Frederick would define the concept of art as making something “pretty” or appealing to the eye in any way. He would define it as closest to real life portrayals as they can be. As for beauty, his definition would be similar because he believes beauty to be only what he can see on the surface. He does not appreciate any of Miranda’s intellect or knowledge about the arts. Instead, he would rather tell her how beautiful she appears, despite her actual beauty as a person.
Miranda’s definition of art and beauty are extremely different than Frederick’s. Miranda is a gifted art student and claims to know art in its true form. She knows what it is supposed to look like and how it is supposed to make people feel. She believes art has an effect on people that people like Frederick will just never see. She would define art in a very abstract way that I cannot even recreate. She would want this definition to encompass the physical, mental, and emotional appeal that great art has. Beauty, for Miranda, is also very similar to art because she knows there are levels to it. She understands complex human emotion, and even falls victim to it. She becomes trapped with thinking about Frederick and the way he feels, rather than what he really is. Miranda does not find him beautiful but she understands that everyone has beauty, but not everyone can see it.
In the text, the process of art and beauty is best described by Miranda. Miranda expresses the process as something painstaking yet rewarding. She knows there is work to be put in to achieve the desired result but her goal is to reach a satisfying product at all costs. She also expresses the product very well because of how she responds to something she likes or does not like. When she draws or paints something she deems unsatisfactory, she rips it up and ceases to think about it. Miranda is much too proud to ever let herself create something not up to her standards. Maybe this is because she has let G.P. influence her a little too much, but nevertheless, she has a view on art and beauty that is actually expressed in the text. Frederick just agrees with her regardless if he knows what she is talking about or not. He cannot express anything, beside a love for Miranda that can never be because it is based out of a forced relationship with a stranger.
4) In The Collector, the author creates a unique scenario where Miranda was taken by Frederick and is held hostage in a cellar beneath his house in the country. However, Fowles portrays each of the characters as victims in their own way. Miranda is unable to escape the tight grasp that Frederick has on her, despite her many attempts, but meanwhile, Frederick is under the control of Miranda’s demands because he loves her so much. Thus, each of the characters want to be free, not only literally but metaphorically as well. While Miranda is trapped and wants to go back to see G.P., she continually has this internal struggle of being seen as a young girl. Miranda is in her mid-twenties but is highly influenced by a middle-aged man, G.P., who at times made her feel like she was amongst the adults and had a mature outlook on life. However, other times she would feel like a child as he told her he could never be able to sleep with her because she was too young. Therefore, she struggles with being seen as a young mid-twenties girl, but desires to be treated as maturely as a real adult. She even looks at herself in the mirror and is not sure if she sees a young Miranda or an old Miranda looking back at her. At that point, it also becomes her struggle with desiring to be free in who she is. She seemed to have lost herself not only in G.P. but also while she was kept in the cellar because the circumstances and conditions made her act out in ways that were unlike her. Frederick also faces challenges as well as he wants to be free in regards to being loved by someone else. His whole life he felt a void in his heart since his father died in a car accident and his mother was a drunk in his childhood. Because of those traumatic events, he lived very lonely to the point where he needed to kidnap a girl and forcibly keep her with him with the hopes of falling in love. In this sense, he wanted to escape and be set free of his loneliness and simply wanted a companion. He wanted to know what it feels like to be loved and genuinely cared after instead of always being on the outside looking in and solitary. Unfortunately, he had false hopes of what could actually come of his kidnapping of Miranda and never truly found freedom in love because after Miranda passes away, he finds another young girl, Mariana, to stalk and more than likely kidnap as well.
ReplyDeleteThe concept of art and beauty is one of the forces that had driven Frederick and Miranda apart due to their different definitions of what it means. Miranda’s definition of beauty is that art needs to be “alive” for it to be beautiful and appealing. She believes it isn’t just what’s on the surface that makes a painting or a person beautiful and we see that when she makes her own art or when she’s writing about her being in school/about G.P. She likes things to be in their true form, yet not contorted to be something it’s not. Frederick’s definition of art and beauty is to capsulize an object or a moment, like his butterflies or like Miranda, to keep it in what he considers to be their purest form. It’s a very superficial view of beauty because it’s a very surface level appeal rather than actually understanding what something means. Miranda also says Frederick’s photography is “dead” because it lacks the sense of life and motion, which is something she believes is important for art to be great--a sense of life. I think Miranda craves a sense of freshness because she’s so young and still full of potential whereas Frederick’s life has remained very conservative.
ReplyDeleteAn example of Miranda expressing what she finds beautiful is when she paints 10 different fruit bowls and asks Frederick to choose the best one. To her distaste, Frederick picks what Miranda had assumed he’d pick, the best, most accurate portrayal of the fruit bowl. I think this is supposed to show that Miranda believes in being nonconformist, which you get insight on in her politics and morals, but also with her art because she wants to be able to make more than just a pretty picture. She appreciates a true meaning to art rather than something superficial. Also, the fact that Frederick kidnapped Miranda because of her beauty shows how twisted his ideologies about beauty are.
Question 3:
ReplyDeleteFrederick and Miranda’s views of beauty are on complete opposite sides of the spectrum. Frederick finds beauty in materialistic things that he can capture and admire. His collection of butterflies represents his idea of beauty in that he has taken them from nature and kept them for his own personal benefit. He values appearance over depth and Miranda cannot stand that about him, taking it upon herself to change his views.
Miranda, on the other hand, relishes in the beauty of paintings and drawings. She believes that photographing and collecting kills art by taking the life out of real moments. She comments, “'I hate scientists,” “I hate people who collect things, and classify things and give them names and then forget all about them” (55). Miranda believes that her perception of beauty puts her in a superior position to Clegg. In Miranda’s eyes, the beauty of art is in its essence of life. Clegg likes to hold moments and things forever, like he does with butterflies and Miranda.
Until the end both parties stay true to their beliefs. Frederick’s chilling and removed reaction to Miranda’s death strengthens the notion that he could only see her as a prized piece of his collection, while Miranda never strays from her belief that life is what gives art its beauty.
John Fowles wrote his novel with a specific target in mind, classism. He represents the apparent and existent rift between different classes by portraying a nouveau-riche, lower class, butterfly collecting kidnapper laying his hands on a woman he obsesses over. Unfortunately this woman refuses to consider him as worthy of any relation with her because she is of the upper class and even though her family may have fallen on hard times she still maintains that age-old snobbery associated so often with the majestic, holier-than-thou characters that make up the utter stratum of society.
ReplyDeleteThe idea of choosing England as the setting of this psycho-thriller novel lays the stage for a duel of the classes that few other cultures can rival, simply because most other countries got rid of their aristocracies with revolutions long ago. So in England, the land that never forgot their entitled (literally and figuratively) ‘peers’, Miranda belongs to that lofty class which lords it over everyone and Frederick is fated to be of the worst of strata: the lower class.
This differentiation is always present in Miranda’s actions towards Frederick and inverse for him. It shapes their every movement and allows us to still pity Frederick more than Miranda even though he remains the kidnapper and her the victim. This is why Miranda always acts like the arrogant snob that she is representing a dying portion of the population while Frederick is unswervingly conditioned to act in a manorial fashion towards Miranda even though he kidnapped her.
And while this book may ruffle a few feathers amongst readers, it does a wonderful job of highlighting these differences and exposing them in a flagrant fashion.
Question 3:
ReplyDeleteFrederick and Miranda have extremely different views almost all topics two main ones being art and beauty. While Frederick’s definition of is mostly just finding things attractive on the surface, Miranda looks more deeply into the art of everything. Fredericks overall definition of beauty is basically Miranda because he finds her visually stunning. He finds things beautiful that are basic like butterflies because they are known to be appealing looking. His favorite form of art is through photography which Miranda says ruins arts becauses it takes a moment and freezes it. He simply wants to take beauty and this overall ruins it. Miranda on the other hand, finds beauty in things that are alive and lifelike. She thinks beautiful things are to be looked at from afar rather than capture it. She finds art in paintings and drawings that keeps the art alive, while she thinks photographs are dead. Art and beauty are expressed in the text as what both the characters want. Miranda’s art expresses how she wants freedom and to survive, while Fredericks art ends up killing everything. He kills Miranda’s dignity after taking the nude photography of her and in the end she does in fact die.
3. John Fowles intentionally makes the contrast between Frederick and Miranda's idea of beauty stark in order to convey how different their two perceptions as a whole are. Frederick's obsession with surface level beauty manifests itself into his obsession with Miranda. He is in love with the image that he has crafted of her because of her appearance as an ordinary, beautiful girl. This can also be seen in his love for butterflies, a creature that most would say are visually pleasant creatures. Miranda, on the other hand, looks at art not as something just visually appealing, but as something with a deeper meaning behind it. Whenever she discussed art with Frederick, she was disgusted by his interpretation of what makes art "good" and considered the art that he loves, mainly photography and butterfly collecting, "dead". This is because the art that she loves is free spirited and full of life and passion, while Frederick's idea of art concerns capturing a moment in time or even a creature without letting it be free.
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